How To Never Lose Your Keys Again
July 14th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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My wife used to spend an inordinate amount of time hunting for her keys. Each time she came home, she’d toss her keys somewhere different, and then she’d forget where she left them and have to search for them later. Sometimes it would take her 30 minutes or more to find them. At first I became skilled at sensing where she left them, but then I figured my time was better spent elsewhere.
So I installed a couple key hooks right by the door where we usually enter the house, one for my keys and one for hers. It only took a few minutes to drill the holes and screw in the hooks. Then I worked on my wife until she got into the habit of putting her keys on the hook whenever she came in the door. And whenever she left the house, she’d just grab her key off the hook. It didn’t take her long to adopt the habit.
It was probably around 1998 that I first did this. Since then we’ve had several different residences, but I always made a point of installing new key hooks the first week after we moved. Sometimes she slips and doesn’t use the hook, but the time spent key hunting is probably less than 1% of what it was before this solution. And then of course, she always re-commits to using the key hook because it’s so simple. She likes it too. She only slips up when her hands are full because she’s carrying a number of items and can’t easily reach the hook.
Your keys are probably already in your hand when you enter your home, so designate a spot to put them right where you enter — a hook, a dish, a drawer, etc. Give your keys a home when you’re home.
And yes, wives are actually trainable to some degree, slightly more than cats. 
July 14th, 2005 at 3:30 am
Be careful where you leave your keys. In Europe, where house front doors have a mailbox hole in the door, criminals are known to retrieve keys from tables and hooks located near the door.
A friend of mine had his car stolen from the front of his house. The police arrived, and spent five minutes looking around his front garden, before finding a long piece of wire. This was what they had used to fish his keys from the table by his front door where he always left them. Once they had the keys, they could just drive off. This is extremely common.
July 14th, 2005 at 4:46 am
hello,
keeping keys right by the door is a boon for thieves especially car thieves. they are known to use elastic wires to send thru ur letter hole, hook the keys and pull them out - make a duplicate and leisurely take your car out for a spin
to guard against thieves if you think of suggesting having a pit bull terrier in your home then watch out…last week in manchester in uk, a pit bull killed a baby.
July 14th, 2005 at 5:22 am
I use a basket of about 60cm x 40 cm to contain the keys. The basket allows me and my housemates to actually just throw the keys in without much trouble…but it becomes problematic when you have too many keys jumbled up in there. Maybe we should try the hook options.
July 14th, 2005 at 5:54 am
The key to knowing where stuff is is to always have a place, the *same* place, to put it. This is not nearly as easy as it sounds. In order to have a place for everything, it is often necessary, in my experience, to have less things.
July 14th, 2005 at 6:49 am
But only slightly.
July 14th, 2005 at 7:01 am
“wives are actually trainable to some degree”
I tend to think that husbands are more so.
July 14th, 2005 at 7:02 am
Hah! I am like that too, I always just toss my keys somewhere wherever I got.
One time at work I left them in the sink (don’t ask) took me around an hour to find them. I do the same with my phone, but my excuse for that is, that its better not left in your pocket.
Alborz.
July 14th, 2005 at 7:43 am
Great advice. I don’t have a hook, but I tend to put my keys in the same place every time and it helps. Also, I’m glad to hear that wives are trainable…I’m getting married in a month and was beginning to sweat a bit.
July 14th, 2005 at 7:49 am
Actually our keys are stored in the laundry room with access to the garage only. A thief would have to break into the garage and there is no window or hole for them to swipe our keys through. But good point for others who put their keys near the front door.
One great thing I learned from Julie Morgenstern’s book on Organizing was that when you are about to put something somewhere ask yourself, “When next I go looking for this item where is the first place I’m likely to look?” And then put the item there. That’s how I determine (for the most part) where “home” is for things.
July 14th, 2005 at 8:14 am
I bought a purse that has a key clip right inside. I know a lot of briefcases have these too. Once I got in the habit of clipping my keys there, I haven’t lost them since. And it is so much better than digging around in the bottom of a full purse for them. It takes a little self-discipline to clip them there every time I get out of the car, but it is well worth it.
July 14th, 2005 at 9:23 am
May I just point out that it’s possibly rather insecure to have keys right by the door, especially if you have a letterbox, because it makes it rather easy for people without scruples to “fish” for keys. Perhaps (for those of us with letterboxes), somewhere slightly more hidden and/or out-of-reach would be a better place to put them.
July 14th, 2005 at 9:29 am
Hey steve. great stuff your writing. you should really get your hands on this book:
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
Its personal growth at its BEST. Trust me. Ive read it thru once now I have to start doing the exercises it prescribes.
Bye.
July 14th, 2005 at 10:29 am
I use my keys to keep me from forgeting my other stuff!
I used to forget my notepad or calendar (yes, I don’t use a PDA) at other people’s offices.
It is pretty important to me and I don’t like losing my stuff like that. Another aspect is the bad impression I guess I leave on the person calling me up saying: “I found your notebook lying on my desk…”
What I do now is NEVER put my car keys in my pocket as I used to, whenever I go for meetings, I put my keys on top of my stuff.
More than once I found myself in front of my car without my keys puzzled for a few seconds and then rush back to the office were I met someone and politely ask for my notebook and car keys.
This way, I never get too far from my belongings.
Ami
July 14th, 2005 at 10:53 am
@Rich: Read it years ago, thought it was so-so — could have been summarized in an article and still provide 90% of the value.
July 14th, 2005 at 11:13 am
why do you drill the hooks to a non reachable position for full hands?
July 14th, 2005 at 11:19 am
Hi! Just found your website via http://www.unfogged.com referencing your post about becoming an early riser. I’m really enjoying your site.
I also finally decided to always put my keys in the same spot and it has helped tremendously. I put them on a table just inside my front door (well away from the door and behind a picture so they’re out of site).
WRT keeping track of my keys while I’m out and about, I’ve found it helpful to use a key ring with a stretchy bracelet on it. When I run into a store for a quick errand, like I did yesterday, the keys just hang on my wrist the whole time (granted, I don’t have many keys on the keychain; it would be uncomfortable if you have a lot of keys). Sometimes rooting around in my purse - small as it is! - for my keys took more time than the errand itself.
July 14th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
Next problem to tackle: How to never lose your car again.
July 14th, 2005 at 12:40 pm
Yep, I leave our car keys in a bowl on the bookshelf in our lounge. Whenever my wife doesn’t have to ask me where the keys are when she wants to use the car. When I want to use the car, I always check the bowl first and then usually have to ask my wife where the keys are. She is slowly learning to use the bowl.
July 14th, 2005 at 1:17 pm
Steve
There is a short story in Canfield/Hansen/Hewitt book ” The Power of Focus, that refers to keys on page 9. Read it. You will find a striking resemblance to your post.
July 14th, 2005 at 2:26 pm
@necrodome: Kids.
@Claude: I actually have an autographed copy of the book, so it was easy to look up your reference. Yeah, seems like Les had the same problem and used a similar solution, although he nailed a block of wood to the wall. I just installed the hooks directly into the door frame.
July 15th, 2005 at 4:49 am
“Steve Pavlina Says:
July 14th, 2005 at 10:53 am
@Rich: Read it years ago, thought it was so-so — could have been summarized in an article and still provide 90% of the value.”
Pretty bad Karma there. What goes around comes around!
July 15th, 2005 at 7:27 am
Fred, I found Steve’s reply to Rich to be helpful.
July 15th, 2005 at 11:56 am
Erin wrote:
[quote]One great thing I learned from Julie Morgenstern’s book on Organizing was that when you are about to put something somewhere ask yourself, “When next I go looking for this item where is the first place I’m likely to look?” And then put the item there.[/quote]
For me… that’s in the pile of junk on my desk. (I think I need help)
I just keep my keys in my pants pocket and move my wallet and keys to the new pair when I change. I don’t usually have a problem losing my keys and it encourages me to only keep the essential few keys and things that I really need on there.
July 15th, 2005 at 12:38 pm
Steve: Rich’s recommendation was probably just an attempt to make a quick buck. I believe he has an affiliate account at Amazon and is spamming in a quite subtle way. You (and all bloggers) would be better off deleting such abusive comment spams.
July 15th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
This article seems to be a particular example of something you wrote about in your earlier excellent article entitled “Clean Up That Mess.” You wrote, “my perception is that at a basic level, there is really just one flaw: a failure to systematize common decisions. Whenever I leave things lying out, it’s because I’m not ready to decide what to do with them yet. So the process of organizing really comes down to having a system for automating decisions about where everything goes. Disorganized people have few or no systems, so they must make every decision on a case by case basis.” I really like the earlier article because it has more sweeping application (no pun intended), and you might consider re-drawing readers’ attention to it. I have found it very helpful, when I’m about to throw a pair of jeans on the floor, to remind myself, “no, the system says they go in the drawer, and following the system saves time ultimately.” While not losing keys, and learning to “clean up that mess” are two different issues, having a system provides a unified solution to both.
July 18th, 2005 at 5:48 am
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August 1st, 2005 at 8:07 pm
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